Back to the Future… The Outdoor Program

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If you build it they will come pt.4, The Annual PlanBoys join Scouts for the Outdoors.. they join for the adventure and fun times that they are promised.  Parents sign them up for Character development, life skills, and the values of the program.  The outdoor program is the heart of Scouting.  It is the place where the Scout learns, practices skills, develops friendships and a love for the wilderness and has fun.
I am sure by now that you have tore through the Aides to Scoutmastership… this has been a fun couple of days pouring through the writing of our founder.  The more I dig in to the book, the more I know that the organization that BP was forming was centered on the boy and that his first and foremost goal was developing them to be good men.  In the early years of the 20th century, England was a different place and boys were not allowed to just be boys.  There are so many problems with suppressing the will and spirit of the boy and BP saw the destruction of  boyhood and the effects that it has on manliness.  I fear that this is happening again and its high time to take get it back.
The outdoor program of the Boy Scouts is how we do just that.

“In spite of teachers and parents, boys remain loyal to their own world.  They obey their own code, although it is quite a different code to the one that is taught to them at home and in the schoolroom. They gladly suffer martyrdom at the hands of uncomprehending adults, rather than be false to their own code.  “The code of the teacher, for instance, is in favor of silence and safety and decorum. The code of the boys is diametrically opposite. It is in favor of noise and risk and excitement. “Fun, fighting, and feeding! These are the  three indispensable elements of the boy’s world. These are basic. They are what boys are in earnest about; and they are not associated with teachers nor schoolbooks. “According to public opinion in Boydom, to sit for four hours a day at a desk indoors is a wretched  waste of time and daylight. Did anyone ever know a boy-a normal healthy boy, who begged his father to buy him a desk? Or did anyone ever know a boy, who was running about outdoors, go and plead with his mother to be allowed to sit down in the drawing room?
“Certainly not. A boy is not a desk animal. He is not a sitting-down animal. Neither is he a pacifist nor a believer in safety first,’ nor a book-worm, nor a philosopher.
Remember that the boy, on joining, wants to begin scouting right away; so don’t dull his keenness by too much preliminary explanation at first. Meet his wants by games and Scouting practices, and instill elementary details bit by bit afterwards as you go. “He is a boy-God bless him-full to the brim of fun and fight and hunger and daring mischief and noise and observation and excitement. If he is not, he is abnormal.”

I have made it pretty clear in writing this blog what my feelings are regarding how I think Scouting should be.  I am a believer that Scouting is done in the outdoors.  I know that there is a place and need for the merit badge program, but feel that it is over emphasized  especially the “Filler badges” like fingerprinting and skating and those types of badges.  Again, I know that there is a place and need… but sometimes I think they, and other non outdoor focused activities distract from the Scouting program.
Having said all of that…
The outdoor program provides adventure and opportunities that allow the Scout to develop skills that make them self reliant.  The Scouts classroom is in the outdoors.  That is were Scouting should happen.  Scouts plan their adventures and carry them out in the outdoors.  In short.. the outdoors is the center of the Scouting program.
The outdoor program is the fix for the boys and to Scouting.  It is where we teach our Scouts the skills and an appreciation for the outdoors and adventure.  It is were we let them play the game with a purpose and watch as they grow in leadership and we achieve the aims of Scouting.  It is in the outdoors that boys develop character and practice citizenship and fitness.
As the Boy Scouts of America states; “Learning by doing is a hallmark of outdoor education.  Unit meetings offer information and knowledge used on outdoor adventures each month throughout the year. A leader may describe and demonstrate a Scouting skill at a meeting, but the way Scouts truly learn outdoor skills is to do them themselves on a troop outing.”
There are many ways that the outdoor program can be executed.  The key is to just get outside and do it.  Make a commitment with the Patrol Leaders Council  to add high adventure activities to the Troop plan.  Make sure that every month has an outdoor overnight experience.  NEVER Cancel an outdoor activity.  Shame on the adults if they are the cause for failure of the outdoor program.  The outdoors is a must for Scouting to happen.  It is a must for the Scout to grow and meet the goals that Scouting has promised him.
Get out and play!
Have a Great Scouting Day!

Back to the Future… the Patrol Method

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patrolmethodOk.. So to get back to the Future.. we need to focus on those basics that I referred to in the last post.  I am going to, in the next few post expand on what I think we need to focus on.  This is the world according to Jerry… and Baden Powell..
We start where it all starts and ends.. the Patrol.
The Patrol method is not just something we do to group boys together.  It is the method that ties the Troop together, it is the basis for teaching and coaching the three elements of Citizenship, Character, and Fitness that are the primary goals of the Scouting program in achieving our Mission.
Again, I turn to Aides to Scoutmastership and see what Baden Powell has to say about the Patrol method.

The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself!

That is correct, if we do not use the patrol method we can not and will not be successful in our mission.  While other clubs sort their youth in age groups, gender groups, or interest groups, Scouting creates groups that will self govern, learn decision making, establish friendships, and challenge one another and the Patrols around them.

An invaluable step in character training is to put responsibility on to the individual. This is immediately gained in appointing a Patrol Leader to responsible command of his Patrol. It is up to him to take hold of and to develop the qualities of each boy in his Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it works.

There always seems to be resistance in this area.  Some adults either have no faith in the boy, or find it easier just to do it themselves.  Which one develops the boy?  Give a Scout responsibility and training and he will rise to it.  I think you will be surprised when you see even a first year Scout lead to his level.  You will see his character develop as he is placed in situations that will test his strength of character.  He will have to choose right over popular, he will have to choose discipline over chaos.  He will have to take charge and responsibility and understand that his needs are secondary to those of the Scouts he leads.  He is first up and last down.  He ensures that meals are prepared and done correctly.  He develops communication techniques that allow him to effectively represent his patrol at the Patrol leaders council and get the information back to his patrol so they can be full participants in the program.  He is the cheerleader of the patrol, he is the compass that keeps the patrol heading in the right direction.  The Patrol leader is the motivator and goal setter.  At the end of his term, he will have taken a step towards being a better leader in his School, home, and among friends, not to mention in his troop.

The best progress is made in those Troops where power and responsibility are really put into the hands of the Patrol Leaders. This is the Secret of success in Scout Training.

Amen BP..   Take away the Patrol Method and you essentially do not have a Boy Scout Troop.

The Patrol Method is supported by the Patrol Leaders Council.  The PLC is the heartbeat of the Boy Scout troop.  Without an effective BOY LED Patrol Leaders Council, you do not have a Boy Scout Troop.  You have an adult led club.
The Patrol Leaders Council makes the decisions for the troop.  They plan the troops activities and meetings and by and large the training that will occur for first year Scouts and skills that are required for specific activities.  The Patrol Leaders Council is led by the Senior Patrol leader.  He is trained and seeks advice from the Scoutmaster.
The Scoutmaster’s primary job is to train that Senior Patrol leader.  Then he can watch as the SPL in turns trains and guides using the EDGE method those Patrol leaders.  A great opportunity for leadership development and training is the use of Troop guides.  These Scouts are part of the Patrol leaders council and assist the Patrols were needed, especially those younger Scout patrols.
The Patrol Leaders Council, I can not stress enough must be allowed to function, even when it’s ugly… the Scouts that make up the council need to be allowed to make mistakes, they need to be allowed to make a decision and then fully realize the consequence of the decision.  Adult leadership should stand back and coach when needed not allowing safety to be compromised or the general welfare of the Troop.  Using the assessment tools that are part of Junior leader training, or the new National Youth Leadership Training program. The Patrol leaders council can evaluate themselves and learn from success and failure.
This is the learning ground for Patrol leaders and will assist them is developing sound leadership, as rough as it looks sometimes.

The bottom line.  Back to basics.. back to the future starts with the Patrol Method.  Period.
As the founder taught us; “”The patrol system is not one method in which Scouting for boys can be carried on. It is the only method.”

Have a Great Scouting Day!

Loyalty to the Movement

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scoutmastershipI have been in discussions lately.. yeah still talking about “The issue”.. the good news is simply this.  All of the discussions that I have been engaged in as of late are about where we go from here.  Moving on.
The “Gay” thing really has become a secondary issue.  What has become the primary topic is what we want Scouting to look like in the near and far future.  Most Scout leaders that I have talked with, emailed back and forth to, and bounced ideas via Twitter want to get back to basics.  I totally agree.
What this new spark has done for me is to look at what Scouting is really all about and why we do it.  It has brought back memories of when I was a boy and the great times that I had as a Scout.  It has asked me to look at how I work as a Scoutmaster and the example that I set for the boys of my Troop.
I am satisfied about how I am a Scoutmaster, but as with most things in life, I can do better.  To do better I need to get back to basics.  I need to teach, coach, train, and be a mentor to our Scouts in the tradition of what the Scouting Movement promotes and why it has had a lasting impact on not just the United States, but the world.
I think we fall short in the US in that we are not good historians.  We don’t look to the past to see what got us here.  We fail to look to the founders of the movement both here at home and of course Baden Powell as he founded Scouting with an idea and a promise.
Once again, I have been diving into Aides to Scoutmastership.  If you have not downloaded a copy or got a hard copy.. stop reading now.. open up another window and download your copy.. read it.
… OK.. you are back…  Great stuff in there, right?
Last night after the troop meeting a group of parents and I talked in the parking lot.. yeah.. you know, the meeting after the meeting.  They wanted to assure me that they are in it for the long haul.  That they believe in Scouting and they believe in how we offer the program in our troop.  We talked about religion and it’s role in Scouting and what responsibility, if any, we have as troop leaders when it comes to religion.  We don’t really have a role, other than being a good example.  What I wanted to share with the parents was my loyalty to the program, to the troop, and to Scouting.
When I got home, I pulled out my copy of Aides to Scoutmastership and started to dig in.  I wanted to see what BP had to say about our roles.  And I got hung up on this section:

Loyalty to the Movement
Let the Scoutmaster remember that in addition to his duty to his boys he has a duty also to the Movement as a whole. Our aim in making boys into good citizens is partly for the benefit of the country, that it may have a virile trusty race of citizens whose amity and sense of “playing the game” will keep it united internally and at peace with its neighbors abroad.  Charged with the duty of teaching self-abnegation and discipline by their own practice of it, Scoutmasters must necessarily be above petty personal feeling, and must be large-minded enough to subject their own personal views to the higher policy of the whole. Theirs is to teach their boys to “play the game,” each in his place like bricks in a wall, by doing the same themselves. Each has his allotted sphere of work, and the better he
devotes himself to that, the better his Scouts will respond to his training. Then it is only by looking to the higher aims of the Movement, or to the effects of measures ten years hence that one can see details of to-day in their proper proportion. Where a man cannot conscientiously take the line required, his one manly course is to put it straight to his Commissioner or to Headquarters, and if we cannot meet his views, then to leave the work. He goes into it in the first place with his eyes open, and it is scarcely fair if afterwards, because he finds the details do not suit him, he complains that it is the fault of the Executive.
Fortunately, in our Movement, by decentralization and giving a free hand to the local authorities, we avoid much of the red tape which has been the cause of irritation and complaint in so many other organizations.
We are also fortunate in having a body of Scoutmasters who are large-minded in their outlook and in their loyalty to the Movement as a whole.

It took a bit to digest that, remembering the time and place in which BP wrote the Aides to Scoutmastership.  Like I said in a post last week… the more things change, the more they stay the same.  You see, the world was a crazy place then.. and you know, with the exception of cool phones and the internet.. it’s still a crazy place.
When we demonstrate loyalty to the boys in our Troops, no matter what we personally think, we teach them valuable lessons in citizenship.  It is no secret that our country is divided politically.  The Boy Scouts of America prohibits us from participating in political or social activism in our role as Scoutmaster. We can not march in parades, use our position in Scouting to support a candidate or cause.  We can however remain loyal to the process and teach that to our Scouts.  Above all if we believe in Scouting we remain loyal to it.
It is because of generations of Scout leaders that came before us that got us through the rough spot in Scouting during the 70′s.  It got us through World Wars and many issues “of the day”.  Scouting did not change.
Anyway, I don’t want to get into a rant here.  I just think that we need to get back to basics.  Aides to Scoutmastership is one way that we can learn about what got us here.
Now that you have a copy, lets get into it and get back to the basics of the Scouting movement.
Have a Great Scouting Day!

Straight from the Dead Horses Mouth

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I am posting this just for clarification.  I will not debate this nor will I further the discussion about it.  The reason I am posting this is that there seems to be some confusion as to what the policy change says and will mean.
The discussion on values, while some will continue to argue and many faith based organizations will not concur, is not on the table.
Without further ado…
From a letter on Scout Wire authored by Gary Butler Assistant Chief Scout Executive, a man that I have personally met and believe has a love for Scouting and the Scouting movement and a man of faith and a good heart:

Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the youth membership policy will be:
Membership in any program of the Boy Scouts of America requires the youth member to (a) subscribe to and abide by the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law, (b) subscribe to and abide by the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle (duty to God), and (c) demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law. No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.
What This Means
It is imperative to clearly understand what this policy means along with what changes and what does not change.
What has not changed:
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Scouting’s vision is to serve every eligible youth in America, and this policy would allow it to serve more kids and focus on their development.
The Scout Oath begins with duty to God, and the Scout Law ends with a Scout’s obligation to be reverent, and that will always remain a core value of the Boy Scouts of America.
Any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting.
The BSA handbook defines morally straight as, “Scouts should be clean in speech and actions and faithful in religious beliefs,” and a clean Scout as “someone who keeps his body and mind fit, chooses friends who also live by high standards, and helps keep his home and community clean.”
Members must demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
The BSA has stringent polices that protect the safety and privacy of youth and adult members and has always worked to ensure that it is a supportive and safe environment for young people (www.bsayouthprotection.org).
The organization will maintain its current membership policy for all adult leaders and within the framework of this policy chartering organizations have the right and responsibility to choose their own unit leaders. The Boy Scouts of America fully supports our chartered organizations.
What has changed:
Youth are still developing, learning about themselves and who they are, developing their sense of right and wrong, and  understanding their duty to God to live a moral life. Accordingly, a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, does not make them ineligible for membership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Understandably, a change to the BSA policy raises many questions among parents and unit-serving volunteers. The following are FAQs and answers
1. Is the BSA endorsing homosexuality and forcing its chartered organizations to do the same?
No. That is not the role of the organizations, and Scouting is not the place to resolve divergent viewpoints in society. By reinforcing that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting, and that no member may use Scouting to promote or advance any social or political position or agenda, this policy rightly recognizes there is a difference between kids and adults while remaining true to the long-standing virtues of Scouting.
2. If a chartered organization does not agree with allowing gay members, can it deny them
membership or defer them to another unit?
No. Effective Jan. 1, 2014, no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone. However, any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting. As they always have, chartered organizations can require members to demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
3. How does the BSA define “morally straight”?
The BSA handbook defines morally straight as, “Scouts should be clean in speech and actions and faithful in religious beliefs,” and a clean Scout as “someone who keeps his body and mind fit, chooses friends who also live by high standards, and helps keep his home and community clean.” Any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting.
Well… that’s it.  I am sorry for the lengthy quote, but this one had to come directly from the document that will govern this issue.  If you would like to see the actual letter.  Here is the link.  
http://scout-wire.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Membership-Standards-Update-Implementation-Phase.pdf

We will lose some folks.  And for that I feel bad.  I have already lost one of the best Assistant Scoutmasters in the Boy Scouts of America.  His faith, while him and I disagree on how it is applied, will not him stay in Scouting.  I am saddened by the loss of him and his family.  But I will go on and so will Scouting.
I think folks need to read the policy and how it is to be applied before they jump ship.
**Just a note… the Dead horse in the Title is NOT to be confused as the Boy Scouts of America or Gary Butler.. it is intended to represent this issue.
Have a Great Scouting Day!

The more things change.. the more they stay the same

Posted on by • Posted in Backpacking, blog, camp skills, Camping, canoe, Character, Citizenship, Cooking, fitness, High Adventure, Ideals, Just fun, Methods, Patriotism, Patrol Method, Scouting, Scouts, Skills, stories, Values • Tagged , , , , • 1 Comment

DanielBooneThose of you that have followed the blog for a while know that I am a fan and collector of Scouting literature.  I don’t just collect the books, magazines, and other literature, I love to get into them and see how Scouting was, how Green Bar Bill wrote and what the program looked like over the decades.
A common phrase I hear often from “older” Scouters is how things were “Back when I was a Scout”.  It seems that things were so much better back when we were Scouts.  But then I got to digging in to the literature and what I have found is that the more things change.. the more they really do stay the same.
Yes, before I get hate mail… Scouting has changed a lot over time, but really, it has stayed the same.
In the 1959 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook the Boy Scouts of America talks about YOU, the American Boy.
Before I get into this, I was listening to a podcast the other day.  The host of the podcast was talking about kids today and some of the things that they have lost over time.  Some of the heritage of America has not been adequately passed down to our kids.  I remember when I was a kid that we played like we were on the wild frontier of America.  I was Daniel Boone and some of my friends would play the roles of Davy Crockett and Kit Carson, and Wild Bill Hickok.  We would fight the battle of the Alamo, build rafts and float down the “Missouri”.  We built forts and tried to live the legends of American History.  I once met Daniel Boone at Frontier land in Disneyland.  It was a great day, you would have thought Daniel Boone came back just for me to meet him.
I think everyone I knew could sing every word of Davy Crockett.  You remember.. he was the “King of the wild Frontier”.
I think watching the tv shows, seeing our hero’s at Disneyland, and learning about them in Scouting, School, and out in the woods shaped how we played the game with a purpose then.
Who are the hero’s today?  Who are those Davy Crockett’s that the kids today run through the woods acting like?
The 1959 handbook talks about the American boy…
“Have you ever dreamed of hiking the wilderness trails that were worn down under moccasins hundreds of years ago?  Do you hear in your imagination the almost soundless dip-dip of Indian canoe paddles or the ring of the axe of an early pioneer hewing a home out of the American wilderness?  Have you followed with your mind’s eye the covered wagons on the trek across our continent?  Have you thought of the men and women who built our country by their determination and devotion?  You are the descendant of those people.  You are the guardian of what they built.  You are the American on whom the future of our wonderful country depends.”
Great writing.  It inspired Scouts for years to learn about our heritage and not feel ashamed of being an American boy.  It valued the spirit of the pioneer, the frontiersman, the explorer an encouraged the Scout to seek that adventure and become a part of the American Narrative.
We have lost that kind of writing in our current handbooks.  Now the handbook gets the Scout to the next rank.  But the more they change, the more they are the same. Where we have lost it is in us.  We have stopped teaching them.  We have stopped allowing them to be American boys.
“Today you are an American boy.  Before long you will be an American man.”  The ’59 handbook continues.  “It is important to America that you become a citizen of fine character, physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”  We all agree that there is no change there.  The handbook, as in today’s handbook sets the course for the Scout to begin a life of values and adventure.  “Yes, it’s fun to be a Boy Scout!  It’s fun to go hiking and camping with your best friends… to swim, to dive, to paddle a canoe, to wield and axe…  to follow in the footsteps of the pioneers who led the way through the wilderness…to stare into the glowing embers of a campfire and dream of the wonders of the life that is in store for you.”  Do we make that promise to our boys today?  Why not?  Nothing has changed there.  The world is not that much different.
I always tell our new Scouts as we sit around the campfire to watch the older boys as they join us in the circle.  There is a magic in the campfire.  It is a magic that no matter who you are or what your job is in the troop, it plays true every time.  That magic is in the embers.  It forces one to stare and quietly be a part of it.  And sure enough, someone will join us in the circle and their eyes will immediately move to glow of the fire.  Where once a loud noise came is now silent and engaged in the magic of Scouting.  It is for us to not allow things to change.  Scouting is rich in tradition, values, adventure, and spirit.  The more things change, the more that will always stay the same.  If we want it to.
I think that we need to go back and take a look at old handbooks.  Look at the writing of William Hillcourt and how he could draw the imagination of the boys of America.  Look how he engaged them to being a part of the rich heritage and adventurous spirit of Americans before them.
We have lost that spirit and way that pull the boys of America into this great adventure.  It will be gone if we don’t share it.  If we don’t allow them to be American boys.
Building rafts like Huck Finn and standing atop the Alamo defending an ideal.  Hanging out in a tree house and hiking off into the wilderness in search of new land.  We hold them back in the name of protection, we kill their spirit of adventure and call it safety.  I cringe at the thought of not passing on our American spirit to this generation of boys.
They want it.. they just don’t know what it is.
The more things change.. the more the American boy is the same.. Let him be one!
“When you are a Scout, forest and field, rivers and lakes,  are your playground. You are completely at home in God’s great outdoors.  You learn to notice every sound,  to observe every track.  Birds and animals become your friends.  You master the skills of walking noiselessly through the woods, of stalking close to a grazing deer without being noticed, of bringing a bird to you by intimating it’s call.  You learn to find your way cross country by map and compass, to make a meal when you are hungry, to take a safe swim when you are hot, to make yourself comfortable for the night in a tent or under the stars.  You become a true outdoorsman.”  Boy just like when I was a kid acting like Daniel Boone.. the king of the wild frontier.   This was Scouting when I was a boy… and it is Scouting now.  We just need to remember that things really have not changed that much.. it is us that changed.  The wilderness still calls, adventure still yells for our boys to come.  Are you going to let them?
Have a Great Scouting Day!

Sing.. it’s a part of Scouting

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singI once heard a quote somewhere in which supposedly Baden-Powell said, and I am paraphrasing “the mark of a real Scout troop is one that sings.”  I can’t remember where or when I heard that but when I think about my Scouting experience as a youth some of my fondest memories are of us singing.  We sand while we hiked, we sang while we sat around the camp fire, and we sang at meetings.  Singing was a big part of Scouting and it just did not seem right if we did not sing.
This is a tradition that I have passed on in my Troop.  Our troop loves to sing.  We sing around the camp fire, we sing while we hike, and we sing to close every meeting.
Some of the Scouts love to sing more than others, but once the singing starts, it is contagious.  There are certain songs that are staples in the Troop.  Songs that get everyone involved.  The Quartermaster Store is a favorite of the boys, they can go for a half hour trying to find new rhymes and ways to poke fun at one another.  Old Lady Leary is another favorite of our Troop and they see which patrol can out shout the other.  Staying on the Sunny side of life is yet another song that gets the guys singing.
I think that singing is a huge part of Scouting and needs to be a part of every unit.  Once they start this fine tradition they will look for ways to work it in to their program.
There is something about the Scout spirit that comes with song.  It leaves lasting memories that will last forever.  Songs that will come back again and again that make those camp outs memorable and fun.
I was searching the internet for a song that was my all time favorite when I was a young Scout.  It was called “It’s a lie”.  I found it yesterday and immediately smiled as I thought about the summer camp when I first heard it.  It was 1978 at Camp Freedom in the Transatlantic Council.  The opening camp fire was spectacular.    The camp staff led an action packed night, songs and skits and lots of stories about the camp and Scouting.  The camp fire ended with the Order of the Arrow doing a tap out ceremony.  But that song stuck in my head and for the next week I sang it all day long.  I think my Scoutmaster finally had to get another song stuck in my head before he went crazy.
Anyway.. it was singing and a song that brought back a flood of great memories.
Here are the words to my memorable song… you find yours.

I was born a hundred thousand years ago. (YEARS AGO) 
And there’s nothing in this world I do not know. (DO NOT KNOW) 
I saw Peter, Paul, and Moses playing ring-around the roses, 
And I’ll lick the guy who says it isn’t so. (IT ISN’T SO)

Chorus:
It’s a lie; It’s a lie ; Ship ahoy, ship ahey, ship a hi-hi-hi!
Oh, I’ve sailed the seven seas and I’ve sniffed the salty breeze, 
But I never, ever, ever saw a mermaid. (A MERMAID)

I was there when Satan looked the garden o’er. (GARDEN O’ER) 
I saw Adam and Eve a’driven from the door. (FROM THE DOOR) 
I was round the corner peekin’ at the apple they was eatin’ 
I can prove I was the guy that ate the core. (ATE THE CORE)

I was there when Caesar crossed the Rubicon. (RUBICON) 
I’m the guy who built the raft he crossed it on. (CROSSED IT ON) 
I saw Nero burning Rome, and Hannibal at home. 
I even saw the fall of Babylon. (BABBLE ON)

I saw Washington afloat a cake of ice. (CAKE OF ICE) 
I saw Sherman, Lee, and Grant a shakin’ dice. (SHAKIN’ DICE)
I saw Roosevelt’s great laugh that split his face in half, 
While Pershing set a trap for German mice. (GERMAN MICE)

You may thing that all this bunk, it isn’t true. (IT ISN’T TRUE)
But what difference does it really make to you? (MAKE TO YOU)
I’ve been feeding you this line just to pass away the time, 
And now I’m going to quit because I’m through. (YOU’RE THROUGH)

Sing with your Scouts!!!  It makes a difference.
Have a Great Scouting Day!

Being Prepared > Miserable

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mt_st_helens_lrgThis Memorial Day a rather large group of us made an attempt at climbing Mt. Saint Helens.  You know that mountain here in the northwest that one morning in 1980 blew it’s top.
I stare at that mountain every day.  It sits about an hour and a half directly to the north of my house and beckons us to climb to its top and take a peak into the crater left by the eruption.
On 100 climbers a day are allowed on the mountain, so we got permits and started planning.  The good part of this story and the reason we had a happy ending is because three of my assistant Scoutmaster were part of the group, not to mention 4 Scouts who just happen to be the sons, and a daughter (Venturing Scout) .  And our wives went along, they are avid hikers and were up for the challenge.
I say happy ending, because what a lot of people fail to plan for is weather.  I talked with a climber at the camp site the morning of the climb.  He did not seem to think that “a little rain” would spoil the climb.  And he was right, a little rain would certainly not spoil the climb, but what he failed to recognize is that a little rain at camp was a lot of rain once you got to altitudes above the tree line.. or snow and wind.
We started our assent at 6:00 AM.  The hike through the lower section while still in the trees was a gradual climb and really nice trail.  The park service does a nice job of marking the trail and grooming, well I suppose with a 100 folks on it a day.. the trail is clearly visible.  Once we got out of the trees it is still clear which way to go and as I followed along with my map it was easy to track where we were.  Clearing the wood line you enter a lava flow and some rugged terrain.  Not that challenging, but the driving rain made for slippery rock and mud.  Mother Nature was having her way with us and most of the party was starting to feel the effects of condensation in their rain gear and it was already time to change out of the first pair of wet socks.
We climbed rather quickly and began slugging our way up through the snow.  This is where the climb starts becoming difficult.  The wet and the step climb really started to take its toll on some of our group.
We started passing groups that were on their way down.  They reported 0 visibility and super high winds above the 5000 foot mark.  We continued to climb.
When we reached 4800 it was time to make a decision.  We could see that the clouds were dropping and the winds were picking up.
A quick assessment of our group told us that Mother nature would win today and the mountain would have to be conquered some other time.
We turned and made a quick decent to the wood line.  Took stock of the group, had a snack, and headed back to camp.  After 5 hours of climbing we were finished.
Be prepared.
We were more prepared than most of the folks we saw on the slope.  We had backpacks with extra clothing, especially socks.  We were carrying 4 liters of water per person.  We had the right gear and did the necessary planning.  I know that we were ready.  For the Scouts that made the climb it was valuable lesson on knowing when to call it a day and that the right gear would assist in making the day less miserable and ultimately successful.
It was nice to see the motto played out this Memorial day.  It is a great lesson to put in that memory bank and know that it works for everything.  It certainly makes for a happier ending to what could have been a bad day.
Have a Great Scouting Day!